WATCH Jeremy Hunt: Brexit will not happen if Theresa May is toppled
3 min read
Jeremy Hunt has warned Theresa May's eurosceptic critics that Britain will not leave the EU if she is ousted from her job.
In a surprise intervention, the Health Secretary said "we will have no Brexit" unless the Prime Minister remains in Downing Street.
Mr Hunt also insisted that the European Court of Justice will have no say on implementing the law in the UK after Brexit, despite suggestions it will still have some oversight on the rights of EU migrants.
Mrs May has come under fire from many Tory MPs after the Government accepted that it will have to pay a Brexit divorce bill to the EU of up to £50 billion.
But appearing on ITV's Peston on Sunday, Mr Hunt said: "The choice we face is not between this Brexit or that Brexit. If we don't back Theresa May we will have no Brexit, and she is doing an unbelievably challenging job amazingly well."
On the role of the ECJ after Brexit, Mr Hunt said: "The Supreme Court will decide what the law of the country is in this country, as voted on by parliament. That is the big thing that Theresa May has achieved.
"These are negotiations and there are technical things that we have to sort out. The fact is that the ECJ will not have sway over British law, that is a very big change. In terms of migrants rights, we have lots of Brits who are living in Spain and there are lots of Europeans who are living over here and there's going to need to be some kind of co-operation between the legal systems of the EU and the UK to make this work. But this is a detail, the big thing is that European law will not hold sway over British law."
Mr Hunt also insisted he has "confidence" in Damian Green, who is at the centre of controversy over allegations that he watched pornography on his work computer.
The claims - which Mr Green denies - form part of a Cabinet Office inquiry into whether he breached the ministerial code.
Referring to a controversy over his role in a previous bid to take over Sky News by Rupert Murdoch, the Health Secretary said: "I have been in the situation Damian Green was in where you're at the eye of the storm and everybody thinks you have done an absolutely terrible thing, and what I learned from that is you have to wait until an investigation is completed.
"I was vindicated at the end of that process in my own case, and I think we need to allow the Cabinet Office to complete their own investigation. I know Damian Green as a colleague and I trust him absolutely and that's why I believe what he says."
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